Last Resort
by PrimeEmily135
Summary: When Peter finds himself in a jam he reaches out to Yondu for help. "Ravagers" series (11). Rated T for language. Set after the events of "Something Simple".


**::Last Resort::**

 **Description: When Peter finds himself in a jam he reaches out to Yondu for help. "Ravagers" series. Rated T for language. Set after the events of "Something Simple".**

...

(Peter)

 _When will I ever learn not to piss off my prison guards?_

I groaned as I took one last punch in the gut, collapsing to the floor with a grimace. My arms wrapped around my torso, protecting what were sure to be a few broken ribs. The large Guana huffed, spitting in my general direction. He left my cell, laughing with his fellow guards at my week Terran self. My head hit the concrete floor when I relaxed a bit. The ground was cold, helping to ease the sting of some of my injuries. I was in pain, but even still I had to refrain from smiling until they were gone from the cell block.

When they were far enough away I started cracking up. Well, as much as I could without moving too much. The tears in my eyes were both from pain and mirth. Pulling my arms away from my ribs I took a glance at the object in my right hand. It was perhaps the smallest long range communicator I had ever seen. I could only hope it would reach far enough to contact Yondu.

I twisted carefully, slowly standing up and hobbling over to the cot in the corner. I laid down with my back to the cameras, effectively hiding my fiddling with the device. It didn't take long to figure out how to operate it, I only hesitated because of the pain it took to breathe.

It'd been almost a month since I was supposed to check in with Yondu, so he was sure to be pissed. With my current string of luck he would probably leave me in this rotten cell to fend for myself just to be a d*ck. But, I didn't have any options left. I'd tried to escape on my own. I'd tried bartering. I'd even tried bribery. But it seemed that only a miracle would get me out of this place.

I typed out a message quickly, sending it the moment I was done. Then I typed out another one, sending it as well. I continued to do this for round about an hour, my plan being to blow up all of Yondu's communication devices if it was possible to reach him from this distance. I had no idea where he was. He could be a day's distance away, he could be a month's. But I had to try as much as I could before the Guana realized that his device was missing.

That moment came quicker than I realized it would. I heard his pounding footsteps and I nearly jumped out of my skin! With great precision I slid the device underneath my primitive cell bars. It came to a stop just on the other side. The Guana's stomping stopped, and I could feel his eyes looking at my skeptically. He reached down for his device and turned and left.

At this point I couldn't move. I could hardly breathe. My ribs and my chest were throbbing in pain. I could only hope that Yondu had received at least one of my messages...

Days went by. Weeks maybe. I really don't know. The pain in my chest was slowly getting worse. And to add to it I started getting sick. It started with a deep set cough. Then progressed to sweating and vomiting. I knew I was dehydrated and that if I didn't get help for it soon that I might not be around for much longer. Eating became pointless. I was unable to move. Every twitch sent pain all through my body. And Yondu wasn't coming.

 _F*ck him!_ If I had enough water in my body I might have cried. Might. Ah screw it, I was in so much pain I'd be crying like a baby if I had the water to spare. In addition to that, my only hope was a no show. So.. Yeah.

The one good thing about being down and out for the count was that I didn't really have the strength to mouth off. The guards taunted me a fair deal, but because I couldn't respond I was spared a few beatings. I really didn't know how much longer I could last though. Absently my mind went to the Milano. I had left her hidden in the woods before trying to break into that museum. It occurred to me that if I died here there was a good chance that she'd stay there forever. Maybe Yondu would eventually pick up her signal and figure out what happened, but I couldn't get the image of her there out of my mind. Rusted over centuries, and overtaken by the foliage...

I never really knew how much that would bother me until that moment.

"Screw Yondu!" I choked, tasting blood in my mouth. It'd been at least a month, I was certain. That bastard wasn't coming for me. By now I was so sick the guards didn't even bother with me anymore. They tossed food at me, but other than that they didn't pay me any mind. They figured I'd die soon, and I was beginning to wonder if they were right...

You can't tell time when you are incarcerated in an underground prison owned by a mafia boss. There're no clocks. No sunlight. And even meals are given sporadically. My sleep patterns did little to help me keep track of the time. The most I could go off of was the change in the guards. Every eight hours or so the guard that patrolled the cell block changed. I figured they had a morning person, an afternoon person, and an evening person. My bet was that the Guana was on the morning shift. I'd be that grumpy too if I had to be up at such ungodly hours.

…

I was sleeping when I heard it... It started out as a small "Zak-zak-zak" followed by a few muffled shouts. It was just loud enough to make me crack open my tired eyes. I groaned, my body not happy with this wake up call. "Can't you let me die in peace?" I listened for a while, confused and just a little bit curious. Nice to know that after all of this I still had my curiosity.

The muffled shouts stopped and for a moment it seemed that everyone in the cell block was holding their breaths. The loud explosion didn't come as too much of a surprise, but it still managed to make me jump, further aggravating my injuries. I suppressed a pained cry, biting my tongue as I listened to footsteps approaching.

"D*mn it Quill! I swear if y'er dead, I'm gonna kill you." Yondu's voice echoed off of the concrete walls. Now, I'm a man and I know we're supposed to be cool and tough, but when I heard his voice I wanted to cry. He did get my messages! He came. I might not be about to die. "Where are you boy?!"

"-er." I squeaked, but it wasn't loud enough. I couldn't even move to look away from the wall. Everything hurt just too much.

"We have five minutes Captain-" that was Kraglin, I was sure, "Others are on their way."

"We check cell by cell then." Yondu growled. "Message Ownu and tell him to have everything ready. This might be a closer getaway than we thought." I heard his stomping footsteps getting closer. Would he be able to tell if it was me if my back was turned? It didn't appear so. I heard him walk right by my cell and my heart sunk.

"Where do you suppose he parked the Milano?" Came Kraglin's voice again, and I heard him too pass by my cell.

"We'll find that out once we get him outta here..."

"I don't see him..."

There was silence, broken only by the pleas for release by other prisoners, and then, "Neither do I." Kraglin said something that I couldn't hear and they started back down the cell block in my direction. "I'll check around again as much as I can, you go on ahead-" His voice stopped in front of my cell, "Kraglin, in here."

"Peter?" Kraglin sounded shocked, so I assume that I must have looked pretty ghastly.

"Quill!" Yondu snapped, I could hear the peeved-ness. in his tone. He was not happy to have to come and get me. "Get your a** up boy, we gotta go."

I tried, I really did. I moved my arms and tried to twist my way into a sitting position, but I didn't get but an inch off of the cot before I collapsed on top of it again. I choked on a sob, stabbing pain shooting through my chest and traveling down my limbs. My ears seemed to shut off. I didn't hear the cell door open or Yondu's cursing.

"Hell, boy. What did they do to you..." Two blue hands wrapped firmly, but not tightly, around my shoulders and I was carefully maneuvered onto my back. I say carefully because I felt a lot less pain than I thought I would from that kind of movement. Yondu stared down at me. I must've been downright delirious at this point. He looked worried. Yondu never looked that way. He couldn't give two sh*ts about me. But he must have, in a way. I mean, he was _here_ wasn't he? Maybe he gave one sh*t about me.

Yondu breathed out of his nose, taking in my injuries with a glance. "If I can get you to your feet can you walk?" My eyes squeezed shut and I shook my head the tiniest to indicate negatively. "Sh*t." He growled.

"Captain, we need to go now." Kraglin said from the doorway.

"Alright.. Brace yerself Quill." He wasn't kidding. In seconds I felt myself being lifted off of the cot and pressed harshly against a leather coat. Yondu's coat. He was carrying me... Bridal style.. _Oh hell._ I was never going to live this down _…_

Every step Yondu took sent pain coursing through me. And unfortunately he was in a bit of a rush. His steps pounded against the pavement, and he turned corners so sharply I could feel the wind whip my hair back. I kept my eyes shut, not able to handle any other sensory information. Alarms were sounding all around us. Water splashed over my face as we rounded a corner, a part of the ceiling having fallen away due to a storm at some point.

I phased in and out as Yondu and Kraglin helped me escape. One moment I was inside the prison, the next I was outside. It was dark grey out, and raining. Water came down from the sky in curtains. We were soaked in moments. We were running through a field of long grass, headed for a familiar silver shape further away. Vaguely I felt the water sting my open wounds, but in the next moment I woke up in the M-ship.

We were in the middle of taking off. I was laying on a table, or the floor maybe? All I knew was that Kraglin was holding my legs and Yondu was pressing down on my shoulders. Later I found out that they were trying keep me from flailing about as we took off. They had just enough time to shut the doors before coming under fire by the prison, and didn't have time to strap me or themselves down for takeoff. We had just barely made it out of there alive... And it was all my fault.

I'd _never_ hear the end of this one.

I woke up next in what I recognized as the Eclector's medical room. The bright white lights and grey walls were impossible to mistake. It smelled like sterilization and sadness. Some things never change.

Pulling my head up from the cot, I was met with blurring vision and several voices that melded together to form one jumble of incoherent noise. They pushed me back down, and I know I grumbled something along the lines of "shove off a**hole," but I was promptly ignored after I had stopped moving. The voices continued behind my head, one I could vaguely discern as Yondu, and the other I supposed was Doc. Someone was having a hissy fit by the sound of it, as within minutes something clattered to the floor. I shut my eyes at the loud sound, willing my ears to stop ringing. Some of the pain I had been feeling before was now replaced with dull throbbing, but I was probably heavily drugged.

Something poked my arm and I swatted at it helplessly with my other hand. It was quickly caught by someone and I grunted in defiance. _Let me go, I'm not a baby._ I was so doped up on drugs at the moment I might as well have been a baby. I was completely helpless to do anything as they drew blood from my arm.

Time passed, yadda-yadda, and when I finally came around again I was met with an unexpected sight. There was a nice piece of a** right in front of my face. Well, she was wearing pants, but that didn't deter me. At this moment I was swimming in pain drugs, and all sorts of other stuff, so I can safely say I was not in my right mind. However, I'll admit, the drugs probably didn't have any influence over my reaction to said booty. I guess I'm just a bit of an a**hole.

"Hey hot stuff," I reached out and grabbed a cheek, noticing the woman stiffen at my touch. "What brings you here?" I chuckled, giving another squeeze before my hand was forcefully removed. I was unprepared for the angry blue face I saw next.

"Keep your hands to yourself, Quill, or I'll break 'em off." He growled, flicking me in the face between my eyes as he turned back to the still astonished woman. After an initial flinch, I peered up towards the bright lights to get a better look at her. She wasn't what you'd call gorgeous, but she had her appeal. She had long blond hair that was tied up, with no bangs to hide her blue eyes. Under the right circumstance I suppose her eyes could be described as kind but at the moment they stared at me icily. "Sorry 'bout that," Yondu said, stepping between myself and the woman. I was suddenly met with the one a** in the universe I would never _ever_ want to grab. "He's a little pain in the backside on the best of days…"

"You don't say…" she grumbled, her arms crossing over her chest. "Well, as I was saying, before I was so rudely _harassed_ ," she sent me a stern look, which I promptly ignored, "We found the Milano. Kraglin and Ownu went to retrieve it. They're going to be back in about an hour." Yondu nodded, and then the two of them started talking about matters that weren't important enough to listen to.

 _The Milano is safe_. I sighed, feeling my chest throb with both pain and relief. Funny how that was the only thing that was truly bothering me. I should have been concerned with my recovery time, and more importantly, the favor I'd have to do for Yondu to be allowed the head out alone again. He saved me. I owed him my life. And he sure as hell wasn't going to let me forget it any time soon. If I was able to leave the Eclector in a month I'd be surprised.

 _When will I learn not to get caught? None of this would've happened had I just been more careful…_

And this is where I bring my story to a close, because the rest of it is just a bunch of recovery nonsense. I had multiple broken bones, internal bleeding, at least three different strains of viruses, and a crap-ton of other stuff that had to be dealt with before I could so much as sit up again. I took a long time to heal, and in that time Kraglin caught me up on some of the goings-on on the Eclector. Apparently that woman I groped earlier was the person Yondu hired to work in the engine room and on the M-ships as my replacement. She'd been with them for only a little while and had somehow wormed her way into Yondu's good graces, which I had not known even existed. Apparently, he favored her over many of the Ravagers, even socializing with her outside of work. I was skeptical of the idea- Actually, I resented it. I had known the bastard since I was a kid. Hell, he practically raised me! How had some woman found her way into his favor when I hadn't been able to do that in twenty-four years?

Kraglin had said a lot more, but somehow, I was stuck on that thought. As my body healed, it slowly festered in my mind. And gradually I found myself hating a woman I hadn't even properly met yet.

...

 **That's all for now folks! I hope you've liked this bit from Peter. I have several other, much longer, one-shots in the works. They should be out soon. Leave a Review, I love to hear from you :)**


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